why was sent to russia
This is the same submarine which fell victim to the accident in the year 2014. The submarine caught fire during an exercise. This incident took place just after the incident on INS Sindhurakshak. In the year 2013, 18 Indian naval personnel were martyred due to the blast on that submarine. Due to the incidents, it was decided to send four more Kilo class submarines along with INS Sindhuratna to Russia for medium refit. A $700 million deal was signed between India and Russia for this refit. India had signed a deal with Russia for 10 submarines. Submarines were received by India between 1986 and 2000. In July 2021, India retired another submarine INS Sindhudhvaj.
war stopped everything
The Indian Navy wanted to ‘sea-lift’ INS Sindhuratna onto a commercial transport dockship. In October 2022, a ship also arrived from Severodvinsk, Russia and it seemed that the submarine would be refit. But due to the Ukraine war, sanctions were imposed on Russia and the plan of sea-lift failed completely. Along with this, the submarine got stuck in Russia due to these restrictions, the dock operators of commercial transport who were working in Russia stopped their work. Sanctions imposed on Western countries had completely stopped the movement of transport ships at Russian ports.
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India’s strategic interests were also affected due to the Russia-Ukraine war. India is facing a lot of difficulties in bringing INS Sindhuratna back to the country. If sources are to be believed, the Indian Navy wanted INS Sindhuratna to be brought to Mumbai via the Cape of Good Hope which is in South Africa. Now it is possible that the submarine will be brought to India via Norway. The Navy is now looking for a commercial transport dock operator who can bring the submarine to Mumbai. It is believed that the crew of the submarine will be sent to Russia. From here the crew will bring the submarine to Mumbai via Norway.
how many submarines are needed
It is being said that the submarine will be loaded onto a commercial ship as soon as it reaches Norway. It was believed that the submarine would reach India by March this year. Due to the restrictions, there may be a slight delay in this plan. If the submarine reaches India late, then the capabilities of the Indian Navy can be significantly affected. The Indian Navy’s 30-year plan calls for 18 conventional submarines.
